SUM Queens of Nigeria lift Gothia Cup

The SUM Queens female club of Nigeria has won this year's edition of the Gothia Cup, female U-19 soccer championship played in Gothernbug over the weekend, by beating their Norwegian SUM Queens (NGR) - IK Grand Bodø (NOR) 1-0 (1-0) Goal: 1-0 (22 min) Promise Sike Most valuable player: Promise Sikecounterparts IK Grande Bode Fc by 1-0.

The Sum Queens, who narrowly lost (1-2 mot Gideonsberg) in last year's final were hungry for victory from the blast of the whistle.

The Norwegians parading a solid defence structure, put up a strong resistance to the Nigerians' attack, but fell to an early penalty in the 22nd minute of the first half, when enterprising forward Cynthia Uwak was pulled down in the penalty area.

Captain of the team, Promise Sike who was also voted the Most Valuable player of the tournament was sure of her self, as she stepped up to take the kick, placing the ball in the far left corner of the goal.

The Sum Queens kept on the offensive and more of the play was laid around the edges leaving the Norweigan central defenders Marte Solem and Madeline Holvik busy heading and kicking away the ball from their own goal.

There wasn’t only entertainment on the field, but also on the platform. Loud Nigerian and Norwegian supporters made their best effort to support their team. but alas, it was the Africans' cheers that made the biggest difference on the field as they held on to their 1-0 lead to win the coveted Gold medal

" I take all penalty kicks and I decided before my kick ,where I should kick it to score," an elated Promise Sike recalled as she jubilated with her team-mates.

An equally excited Coach of the Lagos -Ajegunle based team, Mr Tokunbo Gbadamosi told nigeriasports.com via telephone from Sweden: "i am really excited. Our victory was simply down to hard work. The girls were simply fantastic.

"We were finalists last year but were determined to lift the trophy this time around." He was also full of praises for the massive support they enjoyed from Nigerians based in Sweden and the embassy staffs in particular, who assured that, the team never lacked nothing.